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Provenance:

Private Collection, Ontario, acquired directly from the artist

Note:

This sculpture comes with excellent provenance; a gift from the artist. The consignor tells the following story:

“My mother’s gallery held the annual World Premiere of that year’s Dorset collection and we requested that Kenojuak and Johnniebo attend in person in Halifax. We toured them all over the province, where Kenojuak ate her first live oyster from the Northumberland Strait (she smiled but didn’t ask for a second helping), and Johnniebo showed us boys the proper way to use a 22-calibre rifle. We were excited to see a seal near the dock but they were unimpressed. By this time Kenojuak had begun making carvings and had the little one currently in the auction with her. One for me and one for my brother.”

Though Kenojuak is best known for her drawings and prints, she learned traditional skills from her grandmother Koweesa, and began to make sculptures in her early twenties alongside Johnniebo. Though the medium might not feel “quintessentially Kenojuak,” the subject matter certainly is: Kenojuak had a lifelong fascination with birds, and they form the core of her celebrated oeuvre.

This small red sculpture would be an excellent acquisition for the consummate Kenojuak collector.